The Next Chapter
by TheAuthor44
Summary: Sequel to 'Whatever Happens'. Riley and Danny are getting ready to celebrate their 1 year anniversary. Danny wants to do something special, but Riley just wants to stay home. Lately that's all Riley wants to do. She says it's because of the new baby, but could something else be at play? Danny better pull Riley out of her funk before she ruins Danny's big anniversary surprise.
1. Preface

The Next Chapter - Prologue

"I don't know what you want from me Danny!"

These were the words that sent Danny Wheeler off like a plane in a tailspin. How could his own wife not understand why he was so upset. I mean it's not like it was their anniversary or anything.

Oh wait, it was.

Danny had to take a deep breath before he said something he'd regret. Unfortunately that didn't seem to work.

"Riley I've been very patient with you, but now I just think … I don't know what I think."

"Wait, is this about _that_?" Riley questioned.

"No it is not about _that_ , it's about how you don't seem to mind as much as I do, and that bothers me."

"Mind! Of course I mind Danny, it's just that things aren't like they use to be. Everything is different now."

"But it doesn't have to be! It doesn't have to be like this Riley!"

Danny watched as Riley just crossed her arms and let out a breath, that sounded more like an aggravated groan. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to get out of there.

"Where are you going?" Riley asked as he opened the door.

"I don't know." he replied, just as softly as she had asked. And with that he was out the door. He stayed outside the door for a moment, before just sitting down right there in the hallway.

"How did we get like this?" he wondered as he sat there. Trying to remember.


	2. Chapter 1

The Next Chapter - Chapter 1

The wail of a crying baby is what Riley woke up to usually, and this morning was no different. She reluctantly got out of bed and made her way to the crib. As she picked Jamie up, based on his smell, he needed to be changed. While changing his diaper, Riley tried to think back to the good ole' days, before Jamie started teething. Back when her mornings were peaceful and she thought she had the most wonderful baby in the whole wide world.

"You're no different then all those other babies, are you?" she said to her son as she held him in mid-air, once she had finished. "You're just like all the rest." the baby just smiled at her and made gurgling noises.

"Yeah, keep smiling bub. I know you're enjoying this."

"Threatening him again Riles." Her husband said, just coming from a shower.

"No, but I'm ready to, I'm not sure how much longer I can go on like this. How about you? Did you get any sleep last night?" she said as she sat on the bed, looking defeated.

"About as much as you did, but I'll be okay." Danny said as he took the towel off his waist and used it to dry his hair. Normally Riley would've stared at his glistening body, enjoying the show, but she was so tired lately, she could barely enjoy her naked husband literally standing right in front of her, in all his glory. So she curled up in a ball at the foot of the bed and watched as Danny got dressed and took Jamie into the kitchen for some breakfast.

It was about 2 hours later when Riley woke up from the nap she hadn't realize she'd taken . She got up, went in a shower and threw on some sweats. Long gone were the days where she actually get dressed in more than this, after having all of her nice shirts spit up on she figured, why bother. As she made her way into the kitchen for some brunch, she found Danny sitting with a content Jamie on the couch, watching some kids show that was suppose to be educational. She made herself some toast and coffee and went to go sit next to them. Her hair was still wet, so when she leaned on Danny's shoulder, it made her presence known.

"Oh hey, I didn't hear you get up. Did you finally get some rest?"

"Oh my god yes, thank you for letting me get some sleep."

"HA ha, you'll have to tell me what that's like sometime." he joked. "You know this show isn't half bad. Its got a lot of bright colors and cool songs about the ABC's. I never really liked the other one, just wasn't catchy."

She chuckled. Leave it to Danny to be more into the kids show then the actual baby, who looked more interested in his feet then in the TV. She bit into her toast as Danny put Jamie in his bouncy chair and went and sat back down next to her."

"So," he started. She swallowed what she had been chewing and gave him her full attention. "you know what this weekend is?" Riley thought for a moment,

"Oh does Jamie have a doctors appointment, I though we went to the one for this month already." she said as she got up to check the calendar. She was stopped by Danny's hand on her arm.

"No, it's our anniversary! On Friday we will have been married one whole year."

"Oh my god, our anniversary! I'm so sorry Danny I completely forgot." Riley said with remorse. How could she forget one of the best days of her life.

"It's okay, you've been busy, you know, taking care of our child. That's why you have me. To remember dates of important life altering events." Danny said with that goofy love struck grin that Riley loved so much.

"So I was wondering what you wanted to do to celebrate. Maybe we could go to dinner, or something."

Riley practically jumped at the idea of having some alone time with Danny. Ever since they brought Jamie home they haven't had any at all. But she didn't feel comfortable leaving Jamie, after all he was only 2 months old, and she had been with him every day since he was born. Leaving him felt selfish.

"Danny I would love that, but I don't think it's such a good idea to leave Jamie yet. It's too soon. Maybe we could just have a nice quiet evening at home?"

Riley could see the disappointment in his eyes, but he quickly covered that up with a smile.

"Okay," he agreed, "as long as we're together it doesn't matter where we go."

Riley was thankful for Danny for understanding, even if she didn't quite believe him when he said it.

"You know what," she said hoping to change the conversation, "why don't we go see what everybody's doing over at Ben and Tuckers. We've been in this apartment way too long, I'm starting to get cabin fever."

"Okay." Danny said as he picked up Jamie and headed for the door. That seemed to perk him up. Riley followed suit as they made their way across the hall.

Riley opened the door for Danny, who had his hands full with a squirming Jamie, it seemed teething was once again in full swing. Once she walked in the apartment, she was greeted by Ben and his usual tirade of sarcastic remarks.

"Whoa Riles, you didn't have to get all dressed up for me. What is that, the new spring collection from Sloppy and Elastic." Ben snickered as Tucker gave him a high five before joining in,

"Yeah you know this apartment has a dress code. You have to wear at least one article of real clothing." he said as he looked to Ben for a high five, which he didn't get.

"Mine was funny, yours was just stupid." Ben commented.  
"Hey leave Riley alone," said Bonnie Wheeler, as she came out from the bathroom.

"it's not her fault its laundry day, or whatever other reason she has for dressing like a homeless person."

"Danny make them stop." Riley said as she took the baby from his arms.

"Okay you guys, that's enough Riley bashing. You try having a new baby and see how badly you dress."

"Danny that's not helping." Riley scolded.

"Hey I had a new baby and I still put on actual pants." Ben chimed in.

"Oh shut up Ben." was Riley's comeback. She was really off her game today.

"I think you look beautiful" Danny said as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you baby." she said as she gave him a kiss that was chaste and sweet.

"Hey Danny can you come here for a second." Ben called from the kitchen.

"Yeah." he replied as he got up and walked over.

Bonnie wasted no time in taking his seat next to Riley.

"Mom if you have anything else to say to me just put it in the Christmas letter like you usually do." Riley told her mother-in-law.

"Oh trust me I will. But you need to hear what I have to say. What is with you? Wearing sweats all the time and giving Danny chaste little tap kisses like that. You guys are newlyweds with an anniversary coming up. You should be doing it like bunnies."

"Okay one, eww, and two, that's your son. I don't think I should be talking to you of all people about our sex life. And three, why are you so worried?"

"The question should be, why aren't you? I mean you don't seem to be the least bit concerned about having passion in your love life. That was the first thing to go between Ray and me."

"Could that maybe be because he was gay." Riley retorted "And for your information Danny and I have plenty of passion okay. We've just put it on hold because of the baby that's all."

"Oh okay. Phew. That's good to hear. I mean its not like you guys haven't done it since the baby was born."

Riley's facial expression gave it all away.

"Oh my god," Bonnie said, "you haven't had sex since the baby was born? Why on earth not? I mean sure, you have to wait a couple of weeks for everything to go back to the starting position ,but that was over a month ago!"

"Will you please keep your voice down. Okay no, Danny and I haven't had sex in 2 months but that shouldn't matter. He didn't marry me for sex, he married me because he loves me. I mean sure I use to want to jump his bones all the time and now I only think about it when I'm not too tired to even keep my eyes open, but that's not a big deal right?"

Based on the face Bonnie was giving her, Riley knew it wasn't good at all.

"Okay Riley, whatever you say. Just keep this in mind, every man has needs and no matter how much he may love you, Danny is still a man like all the rest. Just keep that in mind the next time you decide to swap a sundress for some sweat pants ,alright."

And with that Bonnie took Jamie and started walking around with him.

After she left Riley sat there in deep thought. She and Danny had plenty of passion in their relationship, Bonnie didn't know what she was talking about. They were gonna be fine, or at least that's what Riley hoped.


	3. Chapter 2

The Next Chapter - Chapter 2

"Hey Danny can you come her a second." Danny heard Ben call from the kitchen.

"Yeah" he replied and made his way over to his brother. "Whats up?" he asked.

"What's up? Danny your wife looks like the bag lady you see pushing her cart around downtown, and you seem completely fine with that."

"So, I didn't marry Riley cause of how she dressed. I married her because I love her, and when you love someone, you don't care how they dress."

"Okay true, but that's not the point we're trying to make." Ben said.

"Yeah okay we're just worried about her. I mean besides the clothes, she never leaves this building except to take Jamie to his doctors appointments. That's not healthy man." Tucker joined in,

"Maybe she's depressed, what do they call it, um, post-partum depression. Yeah that's it."

He and Ben agreed, but Danny was just confused.

"What the hell is that?" he asked. Ben answered.

"We did a special on it for the Mary Hart Show. It's when the woman, after giving birth, gets all depressed cause the baby isn't inside her anymore or something like that."

"Well, what are the symptoms?" Danny wondered.

"Well, um, they get really moody and they lose interest in things like their appearance and leaving the house. Oh and they completely lose their sex drive. Like no interest at all." Tucker finished. Danny started to get worried.

"You know guys, I think you may be onto something, I mean Riley has all those symptoms. We haven't had sex since Jamie was born."

"Wow man, talk about a dry spell" Ben commented.

"I know, tell me about it."

As Tucker and Ben were giving him looks of pity, Danny continued to think.

"Come to think of it, when I mentioned to her about doing something special for our anniversary, she said she just wanted to have a quiet night at home."

"Aw man. Does that mean it's the end of Operation Super Lovin'?" Ben asked.

"I thought it was called Operation Love Machine." Tucker said.

"You're both wrong. It was Operation Love Me Tender. And yeah, it looks like it's not gonna happen." Danny said very sadly.

He hadn't told Riley this, but for the past couple of weeks he, Ben, and Tucker had been planning a big surprise for his and Riley's anniversary. Danny had planned out everything, to the last detail. He was going to tell Riley all about it, until she turned down the idea of doing anything at all. To say he was disappointed was an understatement.

He was really looking forward to a romantic rendezvous with Riley. His pity party was interrupted by Ben,

"Dude, you can't take this lying down. Or not lying down. You know what I mean. You have to make Riley celebrate your anniversary, the right way. This is a slippery slope your heading to. It starts with a dry spell and ends with you and her being one of those old married couples who talk about what wallpaper to put in the bathroom and only have sex once a year, if they're lucky. Is that what you want?" Danny thought about it for a fraction of a second before he replied,

"Oh god. That's not what I want. I don't want that at all. I have to get Riley to go out, I just have to." He got up and practically ran to Riley,

"Riley, I need to talk to you."

"Yeah sure. What's up?"

"Are you sure you don't want to do anything for our anniversary? Cause you know I've been thinking,"

"Danny," she interrupted him, "I already told you, I want nothing more then for us to celebrate our anniversary by doing something special, but the timing with the baby and everything we need to be smart about this. We're parents now, we have to be responsible. I don't want to be like Ben and pawn off Jamie to everyone so we can be selfish."

Riley made a good point, but Danny also knew they needed to do this, to save their marriage. Okay that was a little dramatic, but he knew what he meant.

"Okay Riley. You're right. Besides, we'll have other anniversaries. I mean we have our whole lives together."

"Exactly. Now I'm gonna take Jamie back home and put him down for his nap." she said as she kissed Danny and waved goodbye to the others.

"I'll be right in, I just have to talk to Ben about something."

Danny walked back over to Ben and Tucker.

"Okay she said no, again." he said, leaning on the counter.

"So that's it. You're not gonna try to change her mind. Dude I can't believe you're gonna give up on Operation McLovin' so quickly." Ben said.

"Who said anything about giving up?" Danny said, confusing Ben and Tucker.

"Well what are you going to do then?" Tucker asked.

"I'm gonna change my game plan. If talking to Riley won't work … I'll just have to seduce her and then she'll have no choice but to follow through with Operation Love Me Tender." Danny said with a sly grin on his face.

"Danny that is positively prime evil. I love it." Ben complimented.

"Are you sure that's gonna work?" Tucker questioned.

"Are you kidding me, it's been 2 months of nothing. I know every single one of Riley's weaknesses, I'll make her crack before the week is out." and with that he left to go seduce Riley into submission. As he was leaving he heard Ben call out,

"Go get her, you modern day Casanova you."

As Danny crossed the hall, he undid some of the buttons on his shirt and did some push-ups to get a nice glisten going. Then he went inside to execute his plan. When he opened the door there was no sign of Riley, so he had time to prepare. He went in the fridge and got the strawberries and whipped cream and set them on the counter. He unbuttoned one more button as he heard Riley close the bedroom door and come into the room.

"Oh hey, what did you need to talk to Ben about?" Riley asked.

"Oh nothing. He just wanted some workout tips, he wanted a better abs workout so he could get his like mine." he said as he lifted his shirt to show off his sculpted muscles. He saw Riley take in the view and knew that his plan was off to a good start.

"Oh okay." she squeaked.

"You want a snack? I was just getting one for myself?"

"That would be great Danny. Thank you."

He went and got the strawberries and whipped cream from the counter and brought it to the living room coffee table. He sat down, took one, dipped it in the cream and brought it to his mouth. First he licked the cream off, then he sucked on the strawberry before taking the first bite. He watched as Riley followed his movements while taking a bite of her own strawberry.

"Oh you got some cream on your lip. Here ill get it." Danny lied as he took his thumb and rubbed it across Riley's bottom lip, slowly, before bringing it to his mouth and sucking it, letting it out with a soft pop. Riley's jaw had almost completely dropped. Danny saw this and decided to lean in for a kiss. Riley responded almost immediately, kissing him back. He gave her slow, sweet kisses, and then one deep one that rose a moan from her throat. He moved his kisses to her neck and down her collarbone. Once he knew he had her completely undone, he went in for the kill. With one hand making its way up her thigh, he said in the deep sexy voice he knew she loved,

"Isn't this nice?"

"Mhmm" was all she said, with her eyes closed.

He continued moving his hand closer to the junction between her legs, feeling Riley become putty in his hands.

"You know, if we went away somewhere we could do this without any…"

It was at that moment that Jamie woke up and started crying. Riley's eyes popped open and she got up to go soothe him. She gave Danny a kiss and a rub on the arm that seemed to say 'I'm sorry'

"interruptions." Danny finished. If he would've had another minute, his plan would've been a success. Instead he sat there discouraged … and horny. But he still wasn't giving up. He wasn't gonna rest until he made Operation Love Me Tender a success, whatever it took.


	4. Chapter 3

The Next Chapter - Chapter 3

Riley practically ran into the bedroom and shut the door behind her, a little too loudly, but she didn't care. She picked up Jamie and sat in the rocking chair, trying to bring her heart rate down, but the rocking motion did little for her. She had almost forgotten how good it felt, being so, close to Danny. She would've jumped right back into it with him, if the baby hadn't woken up, and she silently thanked him that he did. As good as it felt, Riley wasn't sure if she was ready to have Danny see her naked again. I mean, sure, her body had almost completely returned to how it was, pre pregnancy. But she had a little extra in some places, that she was hoping to burn off at the gym before Danny saw them. I guess she didn't figure motherhood would be a full time gig.

She knew Danny wouldn't mind, he'd be attracted to her even if she became 'Rigantor' again. But she wanted everything to be perfect, like always. Soon Jamie fell back asleep. After Riley put him back in his crib, she contemplated going back out to Danny, instead she sat back down in the rocking chair. It was kind of funny to her, this whole situation. It was similar to that of her and Danny's wedding night. She shook her head and sighed at the memory. You think she would've learned her lesson the first time.

 **(Flashback)**

 _Riley and Danny walked up the stairs hand in hand, back to her apartment. Although, now it might be considered their apartment. She listened to the clack of her heels on the tile floor, and the swoosh of her chiffon dress hitting the walls. As they made it to the 4_ _th_ _floor, Riley felt a wave of nervousness wash over her. She wondered where that came from. Her hand shook as she unlocked the door._

" _You okay?" Danny asked._

" _Yeah, fine why?" Riley didn't know what had gotten into her._

" _You want a drink? Water, tea, water. Did I say water twice? I don't know why I said water twice. I think I need some water."_

" _You're nervous." Danny observed._

 _So what if she was, I mean its not everyday you have sex with your best friend. Not that she was expecting sex, although she kind of was. I mean the wedding night is almost always associated with sex, not that she was thinking that._

" _What? Me nervous, why would I be nervous?"_

" _Because of …well you know?" Danny said suggestively. Maybe she wasn't the only one that was nervous._

" _Are you tired?" he then asked._

" _No, not at all." she answered a little too quickly. They both chuckled._

" _Well, should we take this in the bedroom?" she asked wearily._

" _Okay, yeah." he replied._

 _Once they were in the bedroom, Riley headed straight for the window. She heard the door slam and immediately spun around._

" _Sorry, I guess I don't know my own strength."_

" _That's okay. That door sticks sometimes, you need to give it a little pull."_

" _Yeah, I can fix that in the morning."_

 _It was at that moment that Riley looked at Danny, and started to laugh. He soon joined her, and you would've though that they were anything other than a newlywed couple. Riley walked over to Danny, as he pulled her in for a hug._

" _This is ridiculous," she said looking up at him._

" _Why is this so hard, I mean neither of us are exactly virgins, so what's our deal."_

" _I know what you mean, I've been waiting for this moment my whole life, and now here I am and I'm completely choking."_

" _I know, I've been freaking out for the last 10 minutes, thinking, is he gonna like what he sees, is it gonna be good, I mean all these questions just driving me insane."_

" _Well you don't have to worry about me liking what I'm seeing, I already do." Danny said sweetly._

" _And I definitely liked what I saw when I saw you in the showers in the locker room."_

" _I knew you were looking, you perv." he joked._

 _There they were again, laughing together._

" _Well, I feel a whole lot better now, I mean I love you, and I think saying that is a lot harder than this." Riley exclaimed._

" _Actually I think that's the first time you've said it to me." Danny said._

" _Really? I thought I've said it before."_

" _Nope, just now."_

" _I love you Danny."_

" _I love you too Riley."_

 _Riley felt like flying, apparently there was a difference between saying 'I'm in love with you' and 'I love you', and she was living it right now._

 _She leaned up and kissed Danny, and he kissed her right back. Their kisses started off gentle, but started to deepen as they went on. She threaded her hands through his hair, as he placed his on her hips. They stopped kissing and looked at each other, her hand stroked his face, as his grabbed it and gave it a kiss. She brought her hand down and started untying his bowtie, and loosening his shirt buttons. Danny's hands found their way to the zipper on the side of her dress, sliding it down painfully slow. She took his jacket off and finally got his shirt open, and started running her hands up and down his amazing chest and abs, as if trying to remember how everything felt. He shrugged out of the rest of his shirt and was standing there just in his pants. Riley felt her dress slipping, so she backed away from Danny, stepped out of her shoes, and slid the dress slowly down and off her body, so she stood in front of Danny clad only in her bra and underwear. She looked away from his gaze, ashamed that she didn't have something sexier on, just a plain strapless bra and some everyday panties, but he walked over to her, lifted her chin with his finger, and gave her a look that needed no words. They kissed again, but she was surprised when he stopped them and made his way to the opposite side of the bed. She watched as he took off his pants, as slowly as she took off her dress, and watched as his boxers showed a clear sign of arousal. Never taking his eyes off hers, he reached for his socks, and then the waistband of his underwear. She unhooked her bra, and took it off, flinging it behind her. They both took off their underwear at the same time. This was it, she thought as she finally looked up at Danny. He stood there looking like a Greek God bathed in moonlight, but his eyes, they were looking her up and down, like she was the most exquisite beauty he had ever seen. It felt just like that scene in 'The Notebook"._

 _She watched as he climbed onto the bed, on his knees, and she did the same. They met in the middle of her queen sized mattress and started kissing again, and this time she didn't think they would be stopping. While she still had the ability to, she thought about how in tune they were with each other, as though they'd been lovers all their lives. He knew exactly where to kiss and nibble, and she knew which spots drove him crazy when she touched them._

 _Finally having enough foreplay, they both positioned themselves._

" _Are you ready?" he asked sweetly._

 _She simply nodded and a while later, they finally finished. As they lay there, each in a sheen coat of sweat._

" _Well, I think it's safe to say we don't have anything to worry about anymore in that department." Danny said, breathless._

" _Definitely not, that was,"_

" _Incredible." Danny finished._

" _Yes, incredible." Riley agreed as she gave his chest a kiss._

 _As they laid there in each others arms, only one thought came to both of their minds?_

" _Ready to go again?" Danny asked._

 _Riley just nodded, and started giggling when Danny rolled on top of her and started kissing her neck._

 **(Flashback End)**

Riley sat there for what seemed like an eternity, thinking about that night. They went on to have sex five times. A personal best for both. Of course they would later break that record again on their honeymoon. She laughed at remembering how nervous she had been, and how silly it all seemed now. She had a man who loved her, and loved pleasing her, and she was taking him for granted. At least in the bedroom. Right then and there she decided that she was going to make it up to him, on their anniversary. She jumped up and started doing some jumping jacks, at least she could try to burn off those extra pounds before Friday.


	5. Chapter 4

The Next Chapter - Chapter 4

To say the night before hadn't gone as Danny planned, would be hitting the bullseye. Not only did he not succeed at getting Riley to change her mind, he didn't even get another chance to try that whole night. She had stayed in their bedroom for 3 hours, and when she finally came out, she avoided touching him at all costs. He felt like he had done something wrong, and what was worse, Riley was completely unaware. He tried again and again the whole rest of the week. On Tuesday, he had decided to sleep naked, claiming it was more comfortable that way. Nothing. On Wednesday, he had placed candles all over the apartment and sprinkled rose petals everywhere, while Riley was out at the store. When she came back, she looked truly touched, but then claimed she was too tired. Thursday was Danny's last day to get anywhere, so he decided to join Riley in the shower, but his timing was off and as she was getting out he was going in. He invited her to join him, but she claimed she was already clean enough. That night he knew, he was going to go def con 1. He took everything else he had tried and put it all into one big romantic, sexy gesture. But Riley fell asleep on the couch as he got everything ready. He took one look at her sleeping form, and all his frustration melted away. As he carried her to bed, he knew that he needed to stop his sneaky way of doing things and just be honest about how he was feeling.

They woke up that next morning to a pleasant surprise, Jamie had slept through the night, and wasn't crying this morning. Danny watched as Riley got up to check on him, and was even more surprised to see he was already awake.

"Well I guess this is your anniversary present for mommy and daddy huh."

She said to the baby in her arms. She took him and walked over to Danny, still in the bed, and said

"Happy anniversary." as she gave him a kiss. After that, for almost the whole day, she never mentioned it again. The day went on and Danny was waiting for the right time to talk to her. Finally nighttime rolled around, and as Riley was putting Jamie down for the night, Danny was pacing in the living room, trying to think of exactly what he was going to say. His heart stopped, for some reason, when he heard Riley coming.

"Okay, baby is down. Now it's time for some quality time with my amazing husband. Which movie do you want to watch first, The Notebook or Princess Bride?"

"Riley," he started to say.

"Of course, duh, obviously Princess Bride." as she went to put the DVD in, Danny called out to her,

"Actually Riley, can you come here for a second."

"Sure." she replied.

Danny took a deep breath, and started talking.

"Riley, we need to talk. Or, I need to say something."

"Okay Danny, you know you can tell me anything."

"Alright, as much as I love The Princess Bride, this is not how I was hoping to spend our first anniversary."

Danny waited for a response from Riley, and when he didn't get one, he continued.

"Riley, I feel as though ever since Jamie was born, there's been this wall between us, separating us. I mean at first I didn't mind, cause we had a new baby and all. But as the baby got less and less new, I felt like you were just using him as an excuse to not get close to me. And I know he needs you, but I need you too. I wanted to do something really special and you squashed those hopes, for what to me, didn't seem like a very good reason. Then I thought you might be depressed."

That's when Riley cut him off.

"You thought I was depressed. Why would you think that?"

"Well you weren't leaving the house, you never got dressed and you just seemed to lose the spark in you."

"Um did you ever think that's because I've gotten no sleep since the baby was born, and taking care of him constantly drains me. I don't get dressed because I don't want all my nice clothes getting spit up on constantly, and for your information I have plenty of spark left in me, I've just been distracted by the baby to use it."

"There you go again. Do you realize how many times you said the word baby in that little speech."

"Yes Danny, I did, because we have one" They were practically screaming now,

"I know we do Riley, and I love him more than anything. But just because we have a baby, doesn't mean we still aren't also a couple. We've barely had time to be one. You got pregnant right after we got together, and now we have a baby. I love you, but I need you to meet me half way here."

"I don't know what you want from me Danny!"

These were the words that sent Danny Wheeler off like a plane in a tailspin. How could his own wife not understand why he was so upset. I mean it's not like it was their anniversary or anything.

Oh wait, it was.

Danny had to take a deep breath before he said something he'd regret. Unfortunately that didn't seem to work.

"Riley I've been very patient with you, but now I just think … I don't know what I think."

"Wait, is this about _that_?" Riley questioned.

"No it is not about _that_ , it's about how you don't seem to mind as much as I do, and that bothers me."

"Mind! Of course I mind Danny, it's just that things aren't like they use to be. Everything is different now."

"But it doesn't have to be! It doesn't have to be like this Riley!"

Danny watched as Riley just crossed her arms and let out a breath, that sounded more like an aggravated groan. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to get out of there.

"Where are you going?" Riley asked as he opened the door.

"I don't know." he replied, just as softly as she had asked. And with that he was out the door. He stayed outside the door for a moment, before just sitting down right there in the hallway.

"How did we get like this?" he wondered as he sat there. Trying to remember. Finally he stopped trying and made his way across the hall.

He opened it and Ben was sitting on the couch with Emma.

"Hey, shouldn't you and Riley be celebrating right now?" it wasn't until Ben looked at Danny that he noticed the tears pooling in his eyes.

"Whoa, what happened?' he asked.

"Riley and I just had our first fight. Can I … can I stay here tonight?"

Ben just nodded and Danny made his way over to sit next to his brother. Ben put one arm around Danny's shoulders as he held Emma in his lap with the other. Danny felt someone touch his arm, when he turned he saw it was Emma, looking at him with a smile. He reached over and picked her up and put her on his own lap. He smiled back at her, but it wasn't a real Danny Wheeler smile. No he didn't think anyone would be seeing one of those for a long time.


	6. Chapter 5

The Next Chapter - Chapter 5

Riley watched the front door, still in shock, unable to move. She sat back down on the couch with tears in her eyes. She sat wondering what in the hell just happened. She hadn't even noticed Jamie had woken up, and was crying. She went in to soothe him and as after she did, she went to the hall closet. Opening the door, her eyes immediately went down to the Victoria's Secret bag hidden behind a pair of rain boots. She brought the bag out to the couch with her, and pulled out the periwinkle blue lacy baby doll and matching thong she had gotten as a surprise for Danny. She held the outfit close to her chest as she started to cry. She tried to distract herself with some TV, but had forgotten the DVD she put on. She cried harder as she saw The Princess Bride DVD menu, this movie was her favorite for so many years, now it just reminded her of Danny. She went to bed early that night, but didn't get an ounce of sleep. She only fell asleep when she grabbed Danny's pillow, that still smelled of his cologne, and hugged it tightly to her.

It was 3 days later when she saw Danny. She saw him coming back with the mail as she was taking Jamie to the park. She dressed up in the hopes of seeing him, but he looked at her for barely a second, then turned away and went back inside. This went on until it had been a whole week since the big fight. And Riley had enough. But what could she say, she was the one who screwed up, not Danny. So when she came back from the park, instead of banging on they boys door, she just went back to her own apartment.

After putting Jamie in his playpen, Riley went into the bedroom to put away some laundry she had done. As she opened one of Danny's dresser drawers, trying not to cry, she noticed what looked like a laminated pamphlet, sticking out underneath the socks in his bottom drawer. She reached in and pulled it out to see what it was. Her heart stopped when she saw what it was, a brochure for renting lakeside houses up in the Pocono mountains, exactly what she and Danny had done for their honeymoon. Riley smiled at the piece of paper in her hands. Leave it to Danny to keep a sentimental reminder of their first trip together as a married couple. Riley took the pamphlet with her as she made her way to the bedroom closet. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a box, inside that box was all her scrapbooks she had made over the years, and Danny was in every single one of them. When she was a kid growing up in New Jersey, she did a lot of fun things, so she started scrap booking them with her mom. Once she knew how to do it, Riley made a scrapbook for every important event in her life, there were 2 from summer vacations, one for each year of high school, one big one for college, and finally the biggest one of all, labeled 'DW+RPW TLA'.

As she flipped through the pages, she saw all the pictures from their wedding and from all the fun times they'd had since getting married, like the time they went on a carriage ride in central park, to the time she and Danny had snuck into a movie without paying for it, but her favorite pictures of all were the ones from their honeymoon. Danny had suggested they go away for a few weeks for their honeymoon, at first Riley didn't think she could miss that much work, so she took one week off and played hookie the other week by calling in sick. They had rented this nice lake house up in the Poconos, with nothing around them for miles. They swam in the lake, Danny made BBQ Ribs, Riley's favorite, and they snuggled in front of the fireplace amongst other things. She smiled at the memories she had made up there, especially when they went nighttime skinny dipping in the lake. Those pictures she had in an unmarked envelope, hidden away.

She laid down on the floor, holding the scrapbook close to her heart, wishing she could go back to that night.

 **(Flashback)**

" _So, what do you want to do next?" Danny said looking at Riley , as they sat at what was left of their make shift picnic in front of the fireplace._

 _Riley couldn't even begin to answer him. After 4 days in her own version of paradise, she was completely happy to stay right where she was. These past days had been amazing, between the nature hikes, and the relaxing swims in the lake, to nights like this by the fireplace. Sure Riley had her reservations about what she thought was going to be glorified camping, but this honeymoon couldn't be farther from that. The house they rented was almost brand new, clean and beautiful, and the outdoors matched the inside, with a beautiful view and the lake right in front of their door. But the best part of this whole trip, was days of uninterrupted alone time with Danny. They could kiss, hold hands, and cuddle anytime they wanted, with no one around to say boo. And she loved that they could be as loud as they wanted to in the bedroom, and the kitchen, and the shower, and the porch swing, and pretty much anywhere else they wanted. There was one place Riley could think of that they hadn't yet … christened._

" _How about we go for a nightly swim?" she suggested._

" _Sounds good to me. I'll go get our bathing suits." Riley stopped him._

" _Who said anything about bathing suits?" she said as she took her top off right there in the living room and then made her way out the door. Danny soon followed, as they left a trail of clothes leading up to the water. When Riley jumped in she felt the freezing cold water, everywhere. She looked around for Danny, but couldn't see him in the dark of night._

" _Danny?" she called out. Oh god, she thought, this is just like all those horror movies she'd seen where the pretty girl is swimming naked, right before something comes to eat her. All of a sudden she heard a noise behind her, and turned to face her attacker. It turned out to be none other than Danny, trying to scare her half to death. He swam up to her with only the top of his head and his eyes out of the water. Riley splashed him in the face._

" _That's not funny Danny! You scared me, I thought something had happened to you!" she said in a faux angry tone._

" _Sorry," he said "is there anything I can do to make up for it?"_

" _I can think of a few things." Riley said seductively._

 _She grabbed Danny's face and started kissing him. He soon reciprocated and wrapped his big, strong arms around her small frame. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, wondering how she was able to do that in the water. It was then she realized that Danny had a good foot and a half on her, so while she had to do the doggy paddle just to stay afloat, he could stand no problem. She would've been so pissed, if he wasn't so good at relaxing her. She heard the sloshing of the water as she and Danny started to make love in the lake. Though the lake water was cold, she was red hot. What started in the lake, made its way back inside, and eventually back to the front of the fireplace, where it had all began. As they lay there, glistening wet bodies in the glow of the fire, Riley realized that she never wanted this to end. She then realized, it never would. If Danny was what she loved so much about this trip, then it wouldn't matter where they were, because she had Danny all for herself for the rest of their lives._

 **(Flashback End)**

It was at that moment Riley snapped out of her little daydream, and it wasn't because the baby had started crying, it was because she finally realized what Danny had meant. She was that same girl from the lake house, the same girl that went skinny dipping at night or made love in front of a fireplace, that hadn't changed. What had changed was that she started using the baby as an excuse to stop living her life. She had to talk to Danny and tell him she was sorry. And a lot of other stuff that just popped into her mind. But first she had to make a phone call.


	7. Chapter 6

The Next Chapter - Chapter 6

Danny sat up on the couch, drenched in sweat again. He was getting so tired of these nightmares. This one starred him and Riley in their own version of The Princess Bride. Danny was climbing the rope up the cliffs, when he heard Riley's voice call out to him, next thing he knew he was almost to the top when he saw his angel, standing above him. She reached out a hand to him, but instead of grabbing him she grabbed the rope he was holding on to and cut it. The last thing he remembered about his dream was falling off the cliff.

"Danny! You okay? I heard you all the way from my room yelling 'Inconceivable' really loud."

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a bad dream I guess."

"About Riley?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"You two are the only people I know who like that boring movie."

Normally Danny would've argued with him about his favorite movie, but he was too depressed without Riley and Jamie. He missed them both. He saw Riley for a second the other day, finally dressed and going out into the world. He wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, so he just headed back inside. Now it was a week after the fight and neither of them had spoken since. His thoughts were interrupted by Ben.

"Well Emma and I are off for a day of me chasing her around like a crazed lunatic, preventing her from getting hurt. You sure you don't want to come? No one swings a swing like Uncle Danny, right Emma?" Ben said in a baby voice.

"As much as I love pushing Emma on the swings, I'm pretty sure I would just be a big buzz kill. You guys go have fun, I'll see you later." Danny said as he went to lay back on the couch.

A little while after Ben left with Emma, Danny's phone rang, it was Riley.

He answered almost immediately.

"Riley! Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Danny! I need your help. I'm stuck on the roof. The door closed behind us, and I cant get it open."

"What do you mean us?"

"I brought Jamie with me, I thought we could recreate Wheeler beach, and the door just slammed closed. Please, Danny."

"I'll be right up." he said as he hung up the phone and ran out to the roof access door. When he got there he grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open with all his might. He practically ran onto the roof, and didn't see Riley or his son.

"Riley?" he called out. He watched as she stepped out from the tree house where they got married, and turned on all the twinkle lights they had on their wedding. She was wearing a beige trench coat and some high heels he hadn't seen her wear in months.

"Where's the baby?" Danny asked, very confused.

"He's not here, he is actually with your mom, all night. I just said he was here in case you wouldn't come just to rescue me."

"I'll always come to your rescue." he said softly. "So why all the theatrics to get me up here?" he asked, curiously.

"Well, I wanted to get you up here, to apologize." she said.

"Okay, go on." he said.

"Danny, I am so sorry. I am sorry that I haven't been myself since the baby was born, and I'm sorry that I used him as an excuse for my behavior. And most of all I'm sorry for pushing you away, or making you feel like I was. Honestly, and you have to believe me when I say this, I didn't realize I was doing it until it actually happened. I was so scared that I had lost you." It was at that point she started crying. Danny wanted so bad to run over and comfort Riley, but something held him back.

"and I know that nothing is forgiven overnight but, I promise you things are going to change. I called your mom today when I asked her to baby-sit, and I also asked her something else. I asked her if once a week, she would watch Jamie so that you and I can have a date night. We'll go out or stay in or whatever, but we are going to have some quality husband and wife time. I know its not much, but it's a step I'm willing to take to fix us." Riley said through her tears.

It was then, that Danny realized what was holding him back.

"Riley that sounds great, but I have to say something too." he watched as Riley took a deep breath and waited for what he had to say.

"I'm sorry too." he said. She looked genuinely surprised.

"Danny, what are you talking about, this is all on me."

"No it's not. There are two people in a relationship, and I'm one of them. Instead of running away to Ben's I should've come back inside and talked to you. Because in not doing that, I broke one of my wedding vows, I hurt you. And I'm never not going to be sorry about that."

"Okay." she started. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too.' he said as he ran to her and brought her in for a big hug.

He felt Riley calm in his arms, as he kissed her head and whispered 'I love you' over and over again.

After they hugged for a good 10 minutes, Riley looked up at Danny and smiled as he gave her a kiss. She pulled away from him for a second before she spoke.

"So," she said as she wiped the leftover tears out of her eyes, "There is a second part to this apology. You see, I got you a present for our anniversary, and you never got to open it."

"Aww that's great. Where is it?" Danny wondered.

"Right here." Riley said as she slowly removed her trench coat, revealing a very sexy blue baby doll, similar in color to that maternity dress she bought that drove Danny crazy. He couldn't move, his wife looked so incredible. If this was a dream, he didn't want to wake up.

"Wow," was all he could say, as he was at a loss for words."

"Do you like it?" she asked.

He just nodded.

"I like it too, especially this part." she said as Danny watched her slowly untie the bow right in between her breasts. His jaw dropped as the outfit went from a dress to a robe, leaving little to the imagination. He walked over slowly, almost as if he approached her too quickly she'd disappear. Based on the grin that took over her face, Riley was very pleased with his reaction.

"Wow," he said as she giggled. He was pretty sure his eyes had flown out of his head and wrapped around it. When he finally got movement back in his body, his hands went straight for her exposed mid section. She shuddered under his touch.

"So I guess this means you forgive me?" she asked.

"Well as long as you keep this on, I don't think I'll have any reasons to be mad, ever."

"Happy Anniversary Danny, I love you."

"I love you" he said, as he kissed her with all the passion he had stirring inside him. They were a mess of hands and kisses, but they didn't care.

"Shall we take this downstairs?" Danny suggested.

"How about right here, in the tree house?" Riley said, surprising Danny, but he didn't need to be asked twice. He lifted her up and carried her back to the tree house and sat her down on the edge. As they were getting started, a crack of thunder broke them apart. Danny and Riley looked up to the sky, just as it started to pour down on them. They started laughing, just like on their wedding night. They laughed and kissed in the rain, and as they made love in the tree house, soaked from head to toe, Danny had no doubt in his mind that he and Riley were going to be just fine.


	8. Chapter 7

The Next Chapter - Chapter 7

Riley woke up the next morning with a big smile on her face, she and Danny had made up, the world was good again. When she looked around, she was confused for a minute about her surroundings, until she remembered the night before. She and Danny had made love in the tree house on the roof of their building in the rain, and when they finished, they sought shelter underneath the roof of their childhood play place. They must've fell asleep, but after 2 months of nothing at all, they had plenty to make up for that would tire anybody out. She looked over at Danny who was still asleep. His face looked so peaceful when he slept, it made his chiseled features look even more perfect. He must've felt her stare because his eyes opened as soon as she started.

"Good Morning" he said groggily.

"Morning, how'd you sleep?" she asked.

"Best sleep of my life, how about you?"

"Same. I'm so glad we patched everything up, I can't sleep without you next to me anymore."

"Me too, I kept having these weird Princess Bride nightmares where I was hanging on the rope and you cut me down." Danny said.

"Oh my god, me too. Except mine was I was in the water, and you were in the boat and instead of helping me out you pushed me under. Weird right."

"Totally." he agreed. They cuddled for a little while before Riley burst their little bubble.

"Well as much as I would love to stay like this, I think we should head downstairs now."

"Why are you too cold?" Danny said.

"No, but I think I have a splinter in my butt from sleeping naked on this thing."

"I'd be more then happy to check for you." Danny grinned. He pulled her close and started nuzzling her neck, causing Riley to sigh.

"I wish we had more time, just the two of us."

That made Danny start nuzzling.

"Come on, now I think we need to go downstairs." Danny hurried and finished getting dressed as Riley did the same. He practically pulled her arm out of the socket, dragging her into their apartment and running in the bedroom. Riley went into the bathroom to see the damage. To her surprise, she looked great. Her hair had dried and her make up didn't run. It looked like being with Danny agreed with her.

"Hey Riley?"

"Yeah."

"Have you seen this brochure, I kept it in my sock drawer."

"Oh yeah," she said as she walked to the bedroom.

"I found it yesterday, it's a brochure for our honeymoon spot. I thought it was so sweet that you kept that. I put it in the scrapbook I made of our marriage so far, it's right here on the bed." she said as she handed it to him.

"Actually," he started, "that's not an old brochure, it's a new one. This was gonna be your anniversary surprise. I was planning a trip up there for the weekend. You know, so we could relive our honeymoon, and get some time alone. Now I thought that Operation Love Me Tender was done with,"

"Operation Love Me Tender?" Riley asked.

"Hey, when you plan a super romantic gesture you can name it whatever you want. I named it that cause Love Me Tender was the song we danced to at our wedding."

That was about all the sweet Riley could take before she had to kiss him. No one had ever gone above and beyond like this for her. She tried to show Danny, with a kiss, how much she appreciated him, but she didn't think anything could.

"Does this kissing mean it's a yes?" Danny asked sheepishly.

Riley thought for a moment. She really did want this, and she had spent a night away from the baby and the world didn't explode, so she figured what's a couple more days.

"Yes Danny. I would love to. When would we go?"

Danny thought for a moment, "How about the last weekend before you go back to work? That way you can go back to work all relaxed, and already use to being away from Jamie."

"Sounds like a plan." she said as they kissed again.

"Now I should probably go get him from your mom, before she tries to leave the country with him."

"Mhmm," Danny responded "or, you come back to bed, and we get him later."

Riley giggled for about the millionth time that morning alone.

"Well, you'll have to convince me." she said seductively.

And did he ever.

One of Riley's favorite things to do in the car was look out the window. Especially when driving through nature. She loved how the light bounced off the trees, and how the forest looked so still, even though she was moving. Her heart raced when she saw the familiar lake house come into view. The stone exterior made it look so rustic, and the brown paneled roof, with the solar panel, gave it a modern look. It had beautiful trees surrounding it, and the lake looked more beautiful then she remembered.

As Danny pulled his moms minivan into the driveway, Riley noticed that they had added a tire to the rope swing that hung on the tree that leaned over the water. As she got out of the car, she took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air.

"Welcome back baby." Danny said as he got their bags out of the car.

"Oh it is more beautiful here than ever." she replied.

They went inside to see what else had changed, but the only thing they noticed was that they installed a new shower head in the bathroom. Not that she or Danny would notice the difference. Once they were all unpacked, Riley asked the ever difficult question.

"So, what do you want to do first?"

"How about lunch?"

That wasn't what Riley had expected him to say, but she was hungry. After lunch, they decided to go for a walk enjoying nature. They talked for hours on end, never running out of things to say, but that's how it always had been between her and Danny. Friends first, always. When they got back from their walk they had dinner, and then went to go lay on the porch swing, or rather Riley laid with her head in Danny's lap as he sat down. When it got too chilly to stay outside, they went in and Danny made a very nice fire for them to sit by. As they sat there, sitting was the furthest thing from Riley's mind.

"Is this a new rug?" she asked, hoping Danny would catch on.

"Yeah, I think it is." he said with a grin that let her know he understood.

"Wanna see if it feels different?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." and with that they were off.

They made love in front of the fireplace that night, both feeling their test of the new rug went very, very well. As they laid in the glow of the fireplace, and the afterglow of amazing sex, Riley wanted to remember the feeling of this moment for the rest of their lives. So much to the dismay of her sore muscles, she got up, went to the bedroom, and came back with her camera.

"Whats that for?' Danny asked as she set up the camera, with the automatic timer, on the top of the fireplace mantle, angling it so that it would capture her and Danny where they just made love.

"Just hold me and don't look at the camera." she commanded. As she laid herself into Danny's embrace she heard him whisper.

"How could I look at anything else?" as he nuzzled her earlobe. Riley was so distracted she didn't even notice the camera go off. When she did, she jumped up to check how the picture came out. What she saw was better than anything that she could've imagined. In this perfectly lit picture, she and Danny looked amazing in the light of the fire, he was looking at her with eyes full of love, and she looked genuinely happy and sexy as she smiled with her neck tilted up as a response to Danny's touch. It was the best picture she had ever taken, and she knew the perfect spot for it. Right in the back of her scrapbook, so she always had a reminder of the best part of her life, Danny.


	9. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT OWN ANY SONGS OR SONG LYRICS MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER**

The Next Chapter - Chapter 8

As a soft country breeze blew in through the bedroom window, Danny opened his eyes and the sight before him, took his breath away. Riley laid with her head on the pillow, facing him, with one slender leg sticking out of the covers, and her left hand strewn across his chest. He took her hand gently in his own and gave it a soft kiss, waking her up. No words were spoken, none were needed. They simply just laid there, gazing into one another's eyes, completely wrapped up in the love they shared. They got up and prepared for their last day in paradise, before having to return the next morning. They went through their daily morning routines, still not a single word between them, just smiles, longing stares, and laughing at absolutely nothing. Danny couldn't be happier.

The first words spoken were Riley's, as she asked

"So what to do today?"

Danny had some pretty good ideas, but it seemed Riley did too.

"I thought maybe we could go horseback riding, or canoeing, or I don't know. Anything."

"Anything sounds good." he said as he made a move to push Riley's spaghetti strap off her shoulders.

"Anything but that." she said, not very convincingly.

"But why not, I mean that was the whole point of coming up here right? To reconnect." he said sliding the other one down. He could tell he was weakening Riley's resolve.

"But there is so much more to do here then, oh that feels nice." she said as he reached that tender spot between her neck and shoulder.

"No, Danny come on," she said as she pushed him away, jokingly.

"I'm serious, there is so much we haven't seen or done. I don't know when we're going to be able to come back here, and I'd like to see everything it has to offer. Not just everything you have to offer."

Danny understood completely, he had wanted to go zip lining ever since he saw that sign on the highway. He guessed not having sex for a couple of hours wouldn't kill him.

"Sure. That sounds great. I only have one, no, two conditions."

"Okay what are they?"

'One, we go zip lining, along with that other stuff."

"Sounds great. What else?" she replied.

"We finish what we were just starting, and do it one more time before we go."

Danny watched as Riley rolled her eyes, even less convincingly than before.

"Well I guess so, I mean a deals a deal." she said, as she practically lunged at him from across the breakfast table.

After their morning dalliance was over, Danny and Riley hopped in the car and were on their way. They did pretty much everything. They went horseback riding, which for Danny, ended with a very uncomfortable backside. After, they went canoeing on the lake, which ended with Riley standing up for a picture, and then falling in, that was followed by Danny jumping in to save her. They both dried off as they went zip lining through the tree tops. Danny went first, followed by Riley, and they both enjoyed it so much, they went at the same time on lines right across from each other. By mid afternoon, they had done everything on their Pocono bucket list, and decided to take a relaxing drive into the small town that sat just down the road from their temporary vacation home. As they drove through, Riley spotted a sign that said 'Flea Market' and got Danny to pull over. They walked through the makeshift isles of the flea market, hand in hand, both picking out things they liked, and things that they thought were completely ridiculous that made the other person crack up with laughter. About an hour later they were finally done. Riley

found a new scarf that matched her outfit perfectly, Danny had found a hat that looked just like one his grandpa had that he loved as a kid, as well as a new toy for baby Jamie. As they were paying for all of their great finds, Riley asked the woman if there was any good places to eat, as it was almost dinner time.

"Well if you pull out of here and make a right, a little ways down the road you'll see a sign for a place called Cappy's. That's where all the young people go to have a good time. Great food and drinks, and a different type of entertainment every night."

"Sounds perfect." Riley said to Danny as she paid the woman, and pulled him back to the car. The nice woman's directions were spot on, and in no time at all they saw the neon sign with Cappy's written on it. When they went inside, they were surprised to see the place was actually really nice. They had sports memorabilia on the walls, and a bar, and tables and booths all covered in a nice brown leather.

"Hi, welcome to Cappy's. How many?"

"Two for dinner please." Danny said.

"Okay sure, right this way." she said as she led them to a table in front of what looked like a stage.

"Your waitress will be right with you." she said as she placed the menus on the table and went back to the hostess stand.

"Wow this place is amazing." Riley exclaimed.

"I know, and we got the best seat in the house. Right by the stage." Danny added.

"I wonder what the live entertainment is?" and just as she asked that, Danny saw the girl that had just seated them, get up on stage.

"Hey how's everybody doing tonight?" Danny watched as the whole place came alive.

"Y'all are in for a treat. Cause tonight is karaoke night here at Cappy's and we invite all our guests to come up here and sing. If your interested, go up and put your name on the sign up list. Thank you." She left the stage and people started getting up to sing. Danny and Riley had a great time listening to everybody as they had their dinner.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Danny asked.

"What?" Riley responded.

"When we went to the block party on our old block and you got up and serenaded Ben."

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that."

"I didn't. I loved watching you up there almost as much as I love hearing you sing. I didn't even mind that it wasn't for me, well I mean I did, but still it was great."

Danny had hoped he didn't make Riley uncomfortable with all this talk of her and Ben, and he thought his fears were confirmed when she excused herself to the bathroom. Danny yelled at himself in his mind, here they were having a nice time, and he had to go ruin it with his big mouth. As he waited for Riley to come back, he heard a familiar song come on from the karaoke stage.

"And next up we have Riley Wheeler, singing a song to her husband Danny for their 1 year wedding anniversary." Danny heard them announce.

He sat in shock as Riley got on stage and started singing the Nora Jones version of 'Love Me Tender'. The same song that had played, as they shared their first dance as husband and wife.

 _Love me tender, love me sweet  
Never let me go  
You have made my life complete  
And I love you so_

 _Love me tender, love me true  
All my dreams fulfill  
For, my darling I love you  
And I always will._

Danny watched as Riley sang, with her voice as sweet and melodic as an angels. Her eyes never left him, as she sang her declaration of love, and Danny never took his eyes off her either, thinking how lucky he was that this woman loved him.

 _Love me tender, love me dear  
Tell me you are mine  
I'll be yours through all the years  
'Till the end of time_

 _Love me tender, love me true  
All my dreams fulfill  
For, my darling I love you  
And I always will_

 _Love me tender, love me true  
All my dreams fulfill  
For, my darling I love you  
And I always will  
Always will_

When she was finished, Danny ran up on stage and gave her a big kiss in front of the whole restaurant. When they finally noticed all the people cheering, they turned and took a bow, both embarrassed but neither of them really caring. Danny felt like he was on cloud nine for the rest of the night. When they got back to the house, Danny didn't want the night to end. He dragged Riley outside, as he took his phone and started playing the song she had just sung earlier at dinner.

"Will you dance with me?" he asked, just like he had when he made prom come alive for her in his old apartment.

"I'd love to." she responded.

As they swayed to the music, Danny felt wetness on his shirt, it was coming from Riley.

"Hey hey, no tears. This is a happy moment." he said wiping away her tears as she gave him a smile.

"I know it is. That's why I'm crying." Danny was confused.

"This trip has been so amazing, I never want it to end. I guess I'm just sad we have to leave." she confessed. Danny tried to think of what to say to make her feel better, when he thought of the best idea.

"Why don't we make a promise, that we will come back here for every anniversary. That can be our little tradition. And maybe a summer or too once Jamie gets bigger. If he's anything like me, he's gonna love that tire swing."

"That sounds perfect." Riley said with a kiss, as they finished their dance, underneath the stars.


	10. Chapter 9

The Next Chapter - Chapter 9

Riley stood outside the lake house, taking one last look as Danny packed up the car. The sun still hadn't rose yet, but she had been up for hours. This weekend was amazing, but she still worried about when they got back to their regularly scheduled lives. Sure, it was easy to focus attention on her marriage, when there was nothing else to think about. But throw in a teething baby, work, and all the stresses of daily life, Riley couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Okay," Danny said as he loaded the last of the bags into the minivan.

"everything's packed up and ready to go. Except us."

"Okay, I'm ready. But, can we stay and watch the sun come up?" Riley asked, turning to look in the direction of the light, just starting to glow behind the trees.

"Sure," Danny replied, "any amount of traffic is worth getting to watch the sunrise with you." Riley smiled at Danny, walking over to the porch swing, taking a seat she patted the seat next to her, signaling for him to sit. He came over and put his arm around her and pulled her close. In that one simple act, Riley felt all her worries just fade away. It was then she had an idea.

"Danny, this is perfect,"

"I know."

"But it isn't always going to be like this, I mean life is gonna happen, babies cry and lawyer meetings and stuff. It's all coming, and I worry, because, I"

"You don't want to go back to what it use to be." he said, once again reading her mind.

"Well, yeah. I mean I was worried about that, but then you put your arm around me and I felt better."

"Okay, so I'll just keep my arm around you 24/7" Riley laughed as he squeezed her tight.

"As much as I would love that, it might get awkward when I have to go back to work, and people start asking me who the handsome guy hanging off me is."

"Then you just say I'm your husband who you love very much and cant keep your hands off of." Danny jested with a raise of his brow.

"Hey your hands aren't guilt free mister." she said just as jokingly.

"Okay how about this, I promise to put my arm around you at least once a day." Danny said as he stood up, extending his hand to Riley. As she took it she responded,

"And I promise you will never see those sweat-clothes again as long as we live, except if I'm kicking your butt at basketball."

"And I promise to keep letting you kick my butt at basketball." at that remark Riley gave Danny's arm a pinch, before he continued,

"and I also promise you, that I will be open and honest with you about how I'm feeling, and that I'll remind you everyday, every hour, and every minute,"

"You forgot every second." she reminded him playfully.

"and every second and every millisecond, how much I love and need you."

"Me too." Riley said as she and Danny shared a kiss, as the sun came up over the horizon.

When they finished kissing, they started at the last bit of the sunrise, before heading to the car.

"So you ready to start the next chapter of our lives?" Danny said as he got in his seat and fastened his seatbelt.

"The next chapter? Of what?" Riley asked as she did the same.

"Our story, remember?" he reminded her, of the conversation they had on their wedding night.

"Oh our story, yes how did that go again?"

"Like this." Danny said as he gave Riley another sweet kiss.

"Oh I like that one." she replied dreamily.

"Me too. So you ready?" he asked

"Yup, whatever happens." and with that they were on their way back to Manhattan.

Riley definitely noticed the change once they drove back into the city. They went from seeing trees to skyscrapers, and being on the open road to the middle of a traffic jam, but she was glad to be home. They made their way to their apartment when they saw a not taped on their door from Ben. It read 'Riley and Danny. Come over when you get back. Ben.'. so Riley and Danny put their bags inside and went across the hall to see what Ben wanted. When they opened the door to Ben and Tucker's, they were surprised to see the lights were all off.

"Hello, Ben. Were here." Danny called out.

All of a sudden the lights came on and everyone jumped out yelling,

"Surprise! Happy Anniversary!"

Riley nearly jumped out of her skin, but she was glad to see everyone.

"Wow, thanks guys. This is great!" Danny exclaimed.

Riley was too busy scanning the room, for someone in particular that she had missed, terribly.

"Happy Anniversary Mommy and Daddy." Riley gasped as she saw her baby boy in his grandma's arms.

"Hi Jamie. Wow look at you. Did you miss your momma?" once Riley had her baby back in her arms, everything felt as it should be. She gave him a kiss before Danny came and snatched him.

"Hey buddy! Did you miss Daddy, cause Daddy sure missed you." He said in his baby talk voice.

"Yeah, sure he did." Tucker insinuated "I bet you and Riley were so busy getting it on, you didn't even remember you had a kid." That remark earned him a smack on the arm from Riley, as she got a wink from Danny.

"So, how was the trip?" Bonnie asked from Brad's arms.

"Amazing, I have pictures if you guys want to see?" she was greeted with an all around 'no'.

"Well I'm not giving you a choice." she said as she went to get her camera and her laptop.

When she came back in, she overheard a conversation between Danny and Ben, as Danny was giving Jamie a bottle.

"So, I guess this means everything is good again in the Perrin-Wheeler household?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, I mean it's always gonna take work. The best relationships do, and now that Riley and I both realize that, we're both gonna put in the effort to have a lasting love." Her heart melted at Danny's sweet words.

"Yeah that's great, but did you do it." Ben asked as Riley rolled her eyes. Just as Danny was about to answer, she made her presence known.

"Okay, whose ready for vacation photos." she said in a sing-song voice.

"Nobody, but you're forcing us to watch them anyways." Tucker said sarcastically.

"If I could have everybody's attention please, before we get this picture party started, I'd like to make a toast." Ben announced. Riley stopped setting up and turned towards him, as Danny came over and sat next to her with Jamie.

"To Danny and Riley. Whose love endures, friendship thrives, and sex life astounds all due to the seriously major height difference. To Danny and Riley."

"To Danny and Riley." everyone echoed, with an 'ouch' from Ben, who Riley nailed with a pacifier.

"Ha ha, that's my girl." Danny bragged as he gave her a kiss.

"Okay, on with the slideshow." Riley said, full of excitement, as she started the slideshow on her computer, that also showed up on Ben's TV.

"Here's a picture of the house. Here's one of the lake, and one of the porch swing."

"Boo, get to the fun stuff." Bonnie called from behind her.

"Please keep all comments and questions till the end of the slideshow. Thank you." Riley directed.

"Now here's a picture of the inside of the house. Here's the loving room with built in fireplace."

"Did it there.' Ben whispered to Tucker.

"And the kitchen." Riley continued.

"Did it there." Tucker whispered right back.

"And finally, the bedroom, which had the most amazing view of the forest."

"Definitely did it there." Bonnie joined in on the boys fun, earning a 'shush' from Danny.

After a few more slides, and snide comments, Riley had shown them pretty much everything, from horseback riding to Cappy's Restaurant.

"Okay I think that's everything," Riley said before Danny pointed out,

"Wait, there's one more picture," he said as he pushed the space bar.

"Wait Danny no that's," Riley couldn't even finish her sentence before the picture of her and Danny, naked in front of the fireplace, came on the screen.

"Oh my god." was Bonnie's reaction. Tuckers was "Oh god, my eyes."

Ben just stared for a moment before saying "I knew you guys did it in front of the fireplace!" Brad just sat there covering his eyes. Danny slammed the laptop closed, before turning to Riley,

"Sorry." he said as his eyes finally returned back to their sockets. Riley only heard him, as she cradled her head in her hands, dying of embarrassment. When she finally raised her head she took a deep breath and said sheepishly,

"So, that was our trip." She looked over to see Jamie had fallen asleep in Danny's arms, Riley let out a sigh of relief. She had hoped to have a few more years before she and Danny scarred him for life, as for everyone else, she didn't really mind.

"Well," Bonnie started "Riley that was a great shot, you should blow it up and hang it somewhere. Maybe over your fireplace." Bonnie joked as she laughed and almost fell of the bar stool she was sitting on.

Riley put her head back in her hands, until she felt Danny put his arm around her.

"Fixes everything, Right?" Danny asked her. She nodded as she snuggled into his side.

"Okay, enough about you two. Somebody hit the lights. I have something to say." Bonnie announced to the room. She and Brad stood together as she announced,

"Brad and I are getting married."

"We know, we were there when he proposed, and when you tried to do it the first time." Ben reminded her.

"No, I mean, we're going down to the courthouse and getting married next Friday."

"I thought you wanted your big wedding, you know the one you didn't get when you married Dad." Danny pointed out.

"I know, but after seeing you and Riley so happy, I want that too. So we decided to just go and get it over with."

"God, I love it when you talk so romantic." Brad said before kissing her, a little too roughly in front of everyone. Riley thought of no better example for how perfect they were for each other.

"Well congratulations, I for one am thrilled." Tucker said, shocking everyone.

"You are?" Ben asked him.

"Yeah, maybe once she gets married, she won't be hanging around here all the time."

Riley watched as Bonnie went straight for the throat, before turning to Danny.

"It's good to be home." she said to him, taking a crying Jamie from his arms.

"Yup, now I'm gonna go break up my mom and Tucker." he said getting up. As Riley calmed Jamie's crying, she looked at all the craziness around her and thought, if she and Danny could survive this bunch, the rest of the world wouldn't be so hard.


	11. Epilogue

The Next Chapter - Epilogue

As Danny Wheeler stood fixing his tie in his hall mirror, he couldn't help but think what a good life he had. Beautiful wife, amazing son, and he was getting ready to go be a witness at his mom's second wedding to her boyfriend, who was almost his age. Okay, granted maybe a little unorthodox, but great none the less. He finished perfecting his look, just in time to see Riley emerge from their bedroom. He turned and faced her, admiring her perfection.

"Okay, ready to go?" she asked him.

"Yeah, and may I just say Mrs. Wheeler, you look beautiful."

"Why thank you Mr. Wheeler. And may I just say you look pretty great yourself."

"Is that a new dress?" he asked, hoping to earn some good husband points for noticing.

"Actually, you know this dress very well."

Now he was confused. Until she continued.

"This is that maternity dress I showed you in the store, the one that you loved on me so much you couldn't keep your hands off me. I saw it sitting in the back of my closet as I was getting dressed, and it just looked so sad. So I thought, why not wear it. I mean just because it's a maternity dress doesn't mean I can't wear it when I'm not pregnant. I put this belt on to try and do something with it. Be honest, does it look like a circus tent?"

Danny couldn't help but smile, Riley always looked so cute when she rambled.

"Like I said, you look beautiful." was his reply. All she did was smile back, then double check her hair in the mirror. Danny would never understand why Riley was always so hard on herself about her appearance, in his eyes she always looked perfect.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road. The last thing I want is to be late and ruin another one of your moms weddings. Danny can you put Jamie in the stroller please." Danny walked over to his sons playpen and picked him up. Danny would never admit this out loud, but he the sight of Jamie in his baby suit made him want to explode with a cuteness overload. This was definitely his kid, barely 3 months old and already rocking a suit and tie.

"Okay little man, no spitting up on you nice suit … or mine." he said as he place Jamie in his stroller and strapped him in. A minute later they were out the door and on their way.

It was a beautiful day in the city, bright and sunny but still breezy, a perfect day for a wedding. When they got to the courthouse, they were surprised to see Ben, Emma, Tucker, and Brad, but no Bonnie.

"Where's mom?" Danny asked his brother.

"She wouldn't get out of the car." he answered.

"What? Why not?"

"I don't know, you're her favorite. Can you go talk to her please?"

Danny turned to Riley.

"Why don't you go Riley. One bride to another."

"Me? What would I even say? Ben's right, you're her son, and her favorite, go talk to your mom, I'm gonna go park Jamie in the shade."

Danny made his way around the corner and saw the taxi double parked. He walked up to it and tapped on the window.

"Mom? Please come out. It's your wedding day." She rolled down the window.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea anymore."

"Are you kidding me? You love Brad. You couldn't wait to marry him yesterday, what happened since then?"

"I don't know. I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong."

"Well can you get out of the car? The toll is up to $50 and my neck is getting stiff."

At the mention of the fee Bonnie practically hopped out of the car.

"Okay, start from the beginning, what's this feeling you have?"

"Well last night I was in my apartment and I realized, that's the last time I was going to be sleeping there. I mean I just started my brand new exciting life in the city, I just got my independence back and now I'm getting married. I'm going to be living at Brad's. I'm afraid I'm going to lose myself, like I did when I was married to your dad."

"Well for starters, you're crazy if you think Brad is anything like dad. And also, you love him, and you know in your heart that you guys are meant to be. I know how weird it can feel to take such a big step in your life, I felt that same way when Riley and I got married. I mean yes I wanted to marry her more than anything, but when we first moved in together, I was terrified. The only girl I've ever moved in with was Emma. But once Riley and I found our way to each other, I wasn't about to let that slip away because of my fears. I'm still not, and neither should you. You love Brad right?"

"More than anything."

"Then let your love guide you, not your fears." That seemed to do the trick. Bonnie got a determined look on her face and charged towards the courthouse.

"Hey, what about my money!" The cabby yelled out.

"Oh right I'm so sorry, Danny can you take care of that for me, oh and leave a generous tip he was very nice." Danny paid the guy and then ran to catch up with his mom.

Once inside the courthouse they found out that because they had missed their appointment with the judge, they had to wait in line for the judge to see them. As they sat on the uncomfortable wooden benches, Danny thought back to when he first moved in across the hall.

 **(Flashback)**

 _As he finished packing up the last box, Danny took one last look at his now empty room. With all of his stuff packed away, it looked smaller somehow. He was pulled from his thoughts when Ben knocked on the door._

" _Hey man, you almost done here?"_

" _Yeah, I just wanted to double check, make sure I didn't leave anything."_

" _Dude, I cant believe you won't be down the hall anymore."_

" _Yeah I will, just a different hall."_

" _No, down the hall and across the hall are two different things."_

" _Yeah well, I'm a married man now. Think it's time I started living with my wife."_

" _Please, you've stayed at Riley's ever since you got married. The only difference is now your stuff is there too."_

" _Yeah well, I better get across the hall before riley starts throwing out my stuff she doesn't like."_

 _As Danny walked out into the living room, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. He helped raise Emma in this apartment. He'd had breakfast, lunch and dinner here for almost 2 years. He's brought countless dates back here, and that reminded him of exactly why he was moving across the hall. With one last look, he closed the door behind him and never looked back._

 _He opened the front door of his new home, to find Riley going though one of the boxes._

" _What are you doing?" he asked her, knowing she knew she'd been caught._

" _Nothing, I just thought I'd give you a head start unpacking." Riley had a lot of great qualities, but lying wasn't one of them._

" _Uh-uh, you sure you weren't just going through them to get rid of the stuff you don't like."_

" _No, it's just there's a smell coming from one of them, and I was trying to figure out which one it was." Now he knew she was telling the truth, especially since he could smell it too._

" _Danny do you still hide sandwiches in your bedside table?"_

" _No," he lied._

" _Danny,"_

" _Okay, maybe once in a while."_

" _Well you won't be doing that anymore, and eww! I think I found the culprit." she said as she pulled out a moldy sandwich out of one of the boxes._

" _Who would even pack this?" as Danny looked in the box, he knew exactly who._

" _Ben would, his version of helping me pack was to literally dump out the contents of my drawers into a box and then close it. I asked him to stop helping me after I found out what he was doing. This must be one of them."_

 _Riley went into the kitchen to throw out the sandwich and came back with the garbage pail._

" _What's that for?" Danny asked._

" _Just incase Ben packed any more of your midnight snacks."_

" _Good idea."_

 _After that incident, the rest of the packing went pretty easily. Sure he and Riley got in the occasional fight about where things went, but eventually they found a way to compromise until they were all done._

" _Well that only took, five hours." Riley said as she looked at the clock on her wall._

" _Yeah well, at least now it's all done. We officially live together."_

" _That sounds so weird to say." Riley commented. "We live together. I live with Danny Wheeler. I'm married to Danny Wheeler. I guess I'm still just getting use to it."_

" _Yeah well it is an adjustment." Danny added. "But one I'm very happy to make."_

" _Me too."_

" _At least there was one thing we didn't have a problem with, melding together our DVD collections. How bout a movie and some pizza?"_

" _Oh my god Danny, that sounds incredible. I'll go order the pizza."_

" _And I'll pick out the movie. You feel like watching our favorite?"_

" _Always. It's inconceivable how much I love that movie."_

" _I do not think that word mean what you think it means" Danny quoted as Riley laughed._

 _Halfway though their movie and pizza Danny got up to get another beer. As he did he took a look around his new place, and thought he was most definitely home._

 **(Flashback End)**

Danny's daydream was interrupted by the announcement of his mother and Brad's names. They all made their way into the judges chambers as he began the proceedings.

"We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony."

Danny watched as his mom and brad exchanged their vows and rings, smiling at Riley from time to time. Before he could blink, it was over.

"By the power vested in me, by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Danny couldn't help but watch his mom and Brad kiss, but only because she looked so happy. As they left the courthouse to head to the restaurant for their reception lunch, Danny hailed a cab as Riley went to the bathroom to change Jamie. When she came out, they hopped in the cab and were on their way.

"So, your mom and Brad are finally married. Things are sure gonna be different now." Riley said.

"Yeah, but I know it's all gonna be okay. Its her next chapter, and it looks like a good one."

"Yeah it does." Riley said as they rode off into the … traffic.

 **THE END**

 ***AUTHORS NOTE: THANK YOU FOR READING MY SECOND STORY 'THE NEXT CHAPTER'. I HAVE ENJOYED READING YOUR REVIEWS AND CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR MORE. AND DON'T WORRY THIS IS NOT THE END, STAY TUNED FOR MY NEXT STORY IN THE DANNY AND RILEY TRILOGY. THANK YOU***


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